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Imperial Legion Warmachines
Ground Control Koala Fast Attack Vehicle The Koala is the favored vehicle of scout troopers and Storm commandos for long range planetary patrols, reconnaissance missions and heavy armor hunting. It originated in the Great Civil War, when Byzon himself heroically led road warriors in the postapocalyptic wastelands to victory using fast improvised vehicles. The modern Koala is made out of a light bragsteel alloy chassis, barely armored, and propelled by a plutonium-enriched turbodiesel engine with a turboramscramfanjet booster that gives it ludicrous top speeds. This speed is a necessity when scouting out enemy territory, or hunting armored columns. The booster even allows the Koala to jump over obstructions like rivers while dragging cables to help engineers set up bridges. The Koala can seat six Bragulans at most, but usually only only three or four ride at a time. Its standard armaments include mounted B-NETs, precision cannons and RPGs, though for specific missions it can carry micro-nuke launchers for hunting enemy armor or even microwave radiation emitters to vaporize the enemy's water supply. The closest analogue to the Koala is the Shepistani Bruce Willys Jeep armed with the Sheppy Cockett tac-nuke. Wvojtyek Utility Half Track Named after a paleo-historical Bragulan hero known for his faithful labours, the Wvojtyek Utility Half Track is a truly ancient workhorse originating from pre-Byzonic eras, in fact believed to be a thousand years old. Its crude simplicity means that it can be used anytime, anywhere, with abundant spare parts if its ruggedly fossilized components ever fail. As Wvojtyeks are too small to carry the nuclear reactors found in the Dredkas and Chornybs, they are instead equipped with powerful internal combustion engines that use plutonium-enriched diesel fuel, re-leaded to decrease radiation emissions. Looted and/or smuggled samples of these vehicles can be found all over Wild Space, where there is a demand for rugged and effective Bragulan engineering. The Wvojtyek is a standard mode of transportation for Bragulan infantry, and the chassis has had thousands of permutations, from having nothing but bare-bones flatbeds or simple troop compartments to modern armored command and control cabins. Often Wvojtyeks can be seen mounting heavier weaponry, such as anti-aircraft guns, missile launchers and rocket artillery racks, or towing howitzers and other equipment. Chornyb Urban Pacifier The Chornyb All-Terrain Urban Pacifier is the standard armored fighting vehicle of the Legions, serving as an armored personnel carrier and infantry fighting vehicle. Standard weapons include B-NET K-cannons, grenade launchers, nuclear flamethrowers, heavy mortars, a 105mm main gun and gunports for the passengers. Active defenses, explosive reactive armor, and a multilayered bragcrete/bragsteel hull give protection to the crew and passengers sardined inside it. Extra armor can be bolted on the hull to turn the Chornyb into a mobile bunker. The gunports and passenger compartment can be replaced with launchers for various long range missiles. The Chornyb Scout, a slightly smaller, lighter, less armed and modular variant that is otherwise identical to the original Urban Pacifier. The Scout is not only designed for reconnaissance, but is a versatile vehicle that can also be a mobile field hospital, a command and communications vehicle, a mobile SAM launcher, a mobile radar site, and anything else as needed. Dredka Main Battle Tank The principal warmachine of the Legions of Liberation is the massive Dredkaflauvisk main battle tank, a monstrous multi-cannoned multi-tracked mechanical mountain of bragsteel armor buried under slabs of bragcrete applique and explosive reactive armor. Dredkas usually come in two versions, with the Legionnaires possessing the more massive over''tank that sports even more guns, armor, sponson-cannons and missile batteries (sometimes even shield batteries) than normal; overtanks are sometimes also referred to as siege tanks, as they are designed to end sieges by ending the cities that are being besieged. The second version is the Shock Army's ''drop''tank, which is a slightly smaller and lighter version designed to be rapidly deployed - by getting dropped from orbit, its bragcrete armor serving as a heat-shield for reentry and retrorockets bolted on to the hull and multiple-parachutes to help cushion its crash landing. It is said that each Dredka tank is worth the lives of thousands of Legionnaire conscripts - and even if there was only a handful of Dredkas for every poorly-supported thousand-bear conscript horde, that would still mean that the Bragulan armies have innumerable battle tanks to bury their enemies with in an unending wave of steel. Bragalaika General Atomic Artillery Platform Also known as the 'Atomic Aniya' to Bragulan artillerists operating it, and the 'BIG GAAP' to Solarian Marines often subjected to its bombardments, the Bragalaika is based on the Dredka droptank chassis, already rated to survive orbital reentry, and further reinforced to withstand the recoil of the latest, greatest and hugest of Bragulan artillery pieces. Aside from its main gun, the basic Bragalaika is otherwise unarmed and unarmored, and must be delivered dirtside by Great Leap forward landing crafts. Often, it must then travel to the forward lines via battlefield railways set by the engineer corps, since it moves too slowly on its own treads it is also equipped with train wheels so it can move by rail independently. Bragalaikas are usually armed with enormous railguns to hurl rocket-assisted strategic warheads, or clusters of tactical atomics, at remarkable distances to strike surface targets and even orbiting warships. They also serve as transporter erector launchers (TELs) for Spuds and other large anti-surface or anti-space missiles. Some variants are armed with atomic death rays for engaging enemy capital ships, but due to cooling issues these 'Atomic Ray Aniyas' are usually deployed in bodies of water to dissipate waste heat and hide their thermal signatures. 5K75 Kubuk Missile System The Kubuk is the primary aerospace defense system for the Legion's PVO units, primarily comprised of a passive-aggressive sensor suite and an anti-air/space missile launcher mounted on a highly mobile tracked chassis. It is superior to the tactical SAMs that can be mounted on Chornybs and half-tracks, and can engage both endo- and ex-atmospheric threats. For medium to extreme altitude targets it fires a salvo of proximity-fused nuclear missiles to shatter the very sky with atomics. For low altitude engagements, it has special missiles that fly ''above ''targets before dispensing target-seeking micro-nuclear submunitions, giving a new definition to the term 'danger close'. An integral component of the Molnya MIDAS defense grid, the Kubuk is intrinsically linked to the MIDAS battle-net and works best in conjunction with a wide variety of defense systems that complement each other's attributes. For example, a Kubuk can use its superior sensors to feed targeting data to Wvojtyek-mounted AA guns and improve its accuracy, while the AAA provides point defense and allows the Kubuk to focus on high altitude threats. The Kubuk is central to Bragulan combined arms aerospace defense strategy, and areas saturated by the SAMs can be nigh impenetrable for enemy aerospacecraft. Kubuks can be configured to ground-attack where their various nuclear missiles can be just as deadly as any atomic artillery attack, with rather impressive surface-to-surface ranges. Aerospace Power Stalag Gunship The Stalag-class gunship/bomber is the Legions' primary air support vehicle, affectionately called 'Steel Butterfly' by its crews. It can be barely described as aerodynamic but somehow it can not only fly through air at hypersonic speeds, but also reach orbital altitudes with its turboramscramfanjets and liquid uranium/plutonium afterburners. In its standard configuration, the Stalag can launch missiles or drop bombs at its targets, or when a more delicate touch is needed, the bomb bay is replaced by underbelly assault cannons, allowing it to act as an aerial artillery piece and tank-killer gunship. The Stalag is a VTOL (variable take-off and landing) aerospacecraft, with an opaque bragsteel canopy and turboramscramfanjets capable of 3D thrust vectoring. Aside from delivering tactical strike packages, the Stalag can perform an overwatch role by loitering or hovering with its turbofanjets for hours and supporting ground troops and armor. It also serves as a very well-armed and well-armored transport for Bragulan infantry, giving normally landlocked ground pounders a chance to man the tailguns and shoot at innocent civilians from the sky. SNT Aerofighter A variant of the SNT-series multifighter optimized for planetary operations. Key changes include replacing the twin General Elektryk atomic pulse engines optimized for space travel with two turboramscramfanjets and one liquid uranium/plutonium internal combustion afterburner better suited to atmospheric and low-orbital flight. Its forward-swept variable geometry swing wings have been widened, and the intricate control surfaces improved, while conversely its passive-aggressive sensor suite has been downgraded as a planetary fighter has no need to engage relativistic targets from thousands of kilometers away. In some respects, it is inferior to the original space SNT, in terms of full speed the SNT Aerofighter is limited to hypersonic velocities by its lesser engines and also by air friction. In other respects, the Aerofighter is far more optimized for flying in the atmosphere. Its key feature is its versatility, it can launch from orbiting ships or take off from dirt runways, and it can perform high altitude hypersonic bombings, engage targets in low orbit, or do treetop-level strafing runs for close air support. It is an extremely maneuverable dogfighter that can make mincemeat out of aerospacecraft not specialized for atmospheric flight. With the right pilot the SNT is a deadly adversary in the 'Brag Alleys' of Wild Space already swarmed by mass produced SNTs. Mydved Paleobomber Another truly ancient design still in service in the Imperial Legions, the Mydved paleobomber is actually a hand me down from the Space Fleet. It can travel through air and space using a unique combined propulsion system, soaring through the ether on impulse thrusters before reentering the planetary atmosphere and switching to propellers to fly in the sky. The propellers also act as radiators and their radioactive emissions help jam nearby enemy sensors. Nul-class Ekranodropship Orbital Transport Long March-class Space Barge Great Leap-class Forward Landing Craft The Great Leap forward landing craft is the primary means by which the Legions of Liberation invades whole worlds. Each enormous vessel can carry countless troops with complete armor and artillery support, and can descend into the atmosphere to disgorge the invasion forces on the ground. These landers were first seen in the Bragulan invasion of Formalhaut in the 3100s, which saw the occupation of several continents by the Legions. The Great Leap owes its name to the fact that Bragulan airborne troops were originally expected to jump off it and parachute down along with light tanks and armored vehicles also equipped with gliders and chutes. The name then took on a new meaning when the vessels were used to invade fortified Solarian worlds, where they were downed by planetary defense systems... only to crash land intact before going on to unleash Bragulan ground forces upon the surprised defenders. The grounded Great Leaps then served as forward bases and makeshift bunkers, using their remaining shield generators and weapons to cover atomic artillery and support mass advances. Today, Great Leaps are still used in Bragulan invasions, and have been progressively upgraded with even heavier layers of bragcrete serving as both reentry heat shield and reinforced bunker armor. The modern Great Leaps are even more robust than their predecessors and when not deliberately beaching themselves right on top of cities, often hover menacingly in the air while using their retro-thrusters to incinerate civilian population centers. Support Elements Molnya MIDAS The Molnya Mobile Integrated Defense of Aerospace System (MIDAS) is a fully integrated battle network linking planetary anti-air and anti-space platforms to form a protective grid covering all levels of the endo- and exo-atmosphere, capable of engaging low and high altitude threats up to and beyond the mesosphere and even warships in orbit. The MIDAS is continuously improved and modernized as it protects high value assets, like columns of slow-moving Dredkas and atomic artillery batteries vulnerable to bombardment. Molnya can interlink with everything from the lowliest half-track mounted K-bolter CIWS cannons to advanced Kubuk missile systems. Molnya MIDAS is a response to the USMC's extreme maneuver warfare doctrine, in which near-static Bragulan ground formations were poorly equipped to counter. Nearly every USMC ground vehicle was actually an aircraft by Legion standards, which presented a problem for its conventional lithocombat doctrines. Molnya was the solution, based on the BRAEGIS defense system on warships, but spread out to a whole fleet of specialist vehicles (i.e. AAA half-tracks, missile Chornybs, Kubuks, etc.) and redundant sensor suites. MIDAS platforms do not need to be stationary to engage targets, and can lock on and fire while on the road accompanying armored advances. The MIDAS touches all atmospheric layers, from low-altitude point defense, to mid-altitude SAMs and anti-orbital nukes. Not only does it protect ground formations, but gunships and slower transports can also operate safely within its effective defense radius. Molnya boasts water-cooled computronic processor units, digital controls and cutting edge cybragnetic interfaces. GAZ Heavy Utility and Mobile Construction Vehicle The extreme scale which the Imperial Legions operates necessitates support vehicles of similar tonnage. The GAZ is designed to haul extremely heavy loads through the worst possible terrains imaginable. It is powered by no less than four atomic turbines, which can last for a century and can be used to power bases or small cities. It has more than enough power to haul Spud tractor erector launchers, carry massive engineering equipment like bridges and prefab bunker buildings, shove destroyed Dredkas out of the way with dozers or ''drag damaged overtanks away for repair, mount Molnya MIDAS over-the-atmosphere arrays, lay combat railways or steamroll asphalt roads with specialized gear, serve as moving command centers, mount mobile tactical theater shield generators, or simply haul megatons of supplies. Atomic Curtain Theater Defense System Category:Bragule Category:Ground Forces